Chapter 2
I stepped over the shredded lace of my discarded veil, walking away from the altar without a single backward glance.
"Sylvia, wait!" Damon's mother rushed after me, grabbing my arm to stop me.
She said, "Sylvia, please, don't throw a tantrum. Damon is temporarily blinded by this girl. There are too many eyes on us today. Have you forgotten about our families' reputations?"
I stopped, quietly slipping my arm out of her grip.
"Mrs. Warwick, I already signed the settlement. From here on out, Elena is your rightful daughter-in-law," I countered.
The color drained from her face, leaving her deathly pale.
Behind us boomed Cedric's furious roar. "You insolent brat! A century of Warwick honor is destroyed because of you."
"How is protecting Elena a mistake?" Damon shot back, raising his chin defiantly. "She's sweet and genuine, ten thousand times better than those fake, snobbish purebloods."
"You... you..." Cedric shook so violently that his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed straight to the floor.
"Honey!" Damon's mother shrieked, throwing herself toward him in a panic.
The once-solemn altar descended into absolute chaos.
I watched the spectacle with cold indifference before turning my back on them for good.
A cold drizzle began to fall, soaking the hem of my gown and sending a sharp chill through my bones.
As I reached for my umbrella, I spotted a ragged rogue crouching by a dumpster on the street corner.
His bony fingers clawed through the rotting trash, searching for food.
Walking over, I unclasped the priceless platinum bracelet from my wrist and dropped it into the battered felt hat resting before him.
"Get yourself something to eat," I said.
The rogue flinched, slowly lifting his head.
Under the dim hum of the streetlamp, I caught sight of his face; the entire left side was a mass of twisted, fire-scarred flesh.
Worse still, his eyes were blank and unfocused. He was blind.
He reached out with a trembling hand, his fingertips accidentally brushing against my wrist, leaving a faint, cool sensation on my skin.
"Th-thank you, milady," he rasped, his voice worn down by years of hardship.
I offered a bitter smile he couldn't see, remaining silent as I disappeared into the rainy night.
In my previous life, locked away in that dark den, I had been exactly like him, groping blindly through the pitch-black, begging for scraps of garbage to survive.
Having survived that nightmare once, I was barely keeping my own head above water in this new life. That bracelet was the only mercy I could afford to share.
*****
I bypassed my family's estate and headed to a secluded apartment on the north side of the city.
It was a hidden property my late mother had bought behind my father's back, now serving as my sole sanctuary.
Opening the door, I found the air thick with dust, but the place was fully furnished.
I stripped off my heavy jewelry piece by piece, preparing to pawn it for quick cash.
My father valued the family's reputation more than his own flesh and blood. As a discarded daughter, I knew I would never set foot in his house again.
Sure enough, the next morning, my father published a formal notice in the papers, officially cutting ties with me.
I stared at the headline, took a deep breath, and headed for the black-market exchange deep beneath the ground.
*****
Two weeks later, in the heart of the north side's busiest district, a new sign went up: Sylvia's Tavern.
It had only been open for three days, but the place was already packed to the brim. People gathered and chattered.
"Did you hear? This place belongs to the pure-blood heiress Damon Warwick dumped at the altar."
"Unbelievable. A high-ranking noble lady reduced to serving drinks. How the mighty have fallen."